Programs
Art Education
The BS in Visual Arts Education degree is one of the more career oriented degree choices in the Department of Art & Design. Many students find teaching art to be the perfect way to apply their talents to a life of service. This has also been the degree choice for several students who loved art, but also wanted to be pre-med. There is enough room in this degree to allow for completion of the pre-med requirements as well as the BS requirements within four years. This degree is taught in collaboration with the School of Education and includes courses in art history, electives in teaching methods and a concentration in advanced studio art.
Art History
The Art History program is taken as an emphasis in the BA degree. This program of study is recommended for those who plan to do graduate work in the humanities or who plan to enter professions that appreciate a broad overview of history and culture. Someone might take Art History as a first degree with an interest in pursuing a graduate degree that would lead to work in museum curatorship, art restoration, gallery directing, writing and editing literary works, or teaching.
The Art History curriculum includes an array of courses, beginning with a basic introduction to the history of art; period courses in renaissance, modern, and current art; and specialized courses in Asian and African art. The art history major will also be introduced to the history of photography and architecture students who will take hands-on studio classes to help them better understand the process of making art through personal experience.
Graphic Design
Employing sophisticated technology along with traditional techniques, graphic designers shape our visual environment, combining words and images into messages that inform, persuade, or call to action both individuals and larger audiences. It is a field that combines art and technology with business and culture. Designers create work that is useful and responds directly to the needs of others. The parameters of an assignment, defined by purpose, audience, and budget, are seen as challenges rather than barriers to the imagination. With the rapidly changing technologies of visual communication, graphic design today encompasses interactive video, multimedia, and the world wide web, as well as the full range of print media, from books, magazines, and CD covers to posters, packaging, advertising, and corporate identity. Graphic designers are at the heart of this information age in which we live.
Photography
Invented a little over 150 years ago, photography is undergoing a phase of accelerated change and transition. This discipline offers tremendous challenges for young artists--the challenge to create a distinguished voice through a complex, contemporary visual language. The BFA photography program builds on the department's studio arts foundation. Through basic and intermediate photography courses you receive a strong technical foundation. Classes dealing with digital imaging, video, and alternative processes complement courses that offer more traditional photographic directions. The program is oriented towards defining photography as a fine arts medium and offers a thorough background in the aesthetic applications and technical aspects of photography.
Pre-Art Therapy
The Pre-Art Therapy program may be taken as either an emphasis in the BA or as an emphasis in the BFA degree. Pre-Art Therapy is recommended for those planning to do graduate work in art therapy and enter that profession. A behavioral science minor is required for the BA and a series of selected Behavioral Science courses for the BFA. These classes allow students to begin exploring the relationship between the creative process and the healing process.
Visual Art
Visual Art majors at Andrews learn how to translate their inner feelings, intuition, curiosity, and keen sense of observation to their art. Through the creative process of painting, students learn about themselves and the world in which they live. In our painting program we emphasize perceptions of form and color, a strong sense of 2-D design, and an awareness of the visual world as a subject matter for aesthetic and intellectual response. We greatly encourage the development of productive work habits necessary to turn feelings and ideas into satisfying forms of artistic expression.
Our painting students are encouraged to work creatively and to find a personal style. We offer instruction and learning experiences for all types of painting from social realism to post-modernism. We expect that a BFA graduate with an emphasis in painting will be someone who either wishes to become a professional artist or illustrator or will continue his or her education on a graduate level with the intention of teaching at the university level. Taken along with certification requirements, Art Education options allow our graduates to teach at the high school level.